New location for food pantry: bigger and better

RICAN founder and executive director Deborah Nigrelli at the center's new location, 805 Alton Carolina Road, Charlestown, works to help Rhode Island families in need.

CHARLESTOWN - A long line formed in the cold and wet weather outside the door at 805 Alton Carolina Road on Wednesday morning, Nov. 16, as it has most Wednesday and Thursday mornings this fall.

According to the founder and director of the organization inside, Deborah Nigrelli, people that have seen the line have congratulated her on the success of her business. However, that line is not representative of commerce, but of the hard and desperate struggles of many local families.

Inside is not a business at all, but a designated non-profit organization. 805 Alton Carolina Road is the new location of a food pantry operated by the Rhode Island Center Assisting those in Need (RI CAN).

On that Wednesday morning alone, the center provided food to 101 families in just two hours.

“It’s crazy,” said Nigrelli. “We have a line in the morning, and people wait in it for hours.”

The pantry is open on Wednesday and Thursday mornings from 9:30 - 11:30, and Thursday from 6:30 - 7:30 p.m., for food distribution. The pantry also operates an emergency hotline for emergency food distribution which can be reached at any time.

The RI CAN food pantry operates as a client choice pantry, meaning that visitors can walk through and choose which food items they want, instead of other pantries that give allocated hand-outs.